Watch 5 Minutes From PC-Exclusive Halo Online

A lot of people are excited about the free-to-play, first-person multiplayer shooter Halo Online. The PC exclusive has been kept under wraps... until now. Five minutes worth of footage has gone live for public consumption and it gives you a nice look at what you can expect.

YouTuber GamingPranks uploaded the five minute video that you can check out below.

As you can see, the Turf map is from Halo 2 but it's been upgraded visually to reflect Halo 4's visual fidelity.

The characters have the same level of high-detailed designs you would expect from Bungie or 343 Industries, and the stage itself is littered with all of the necessary accoutrements to make it look like something upgraded and evolved right out of Halo 2. All the tight corridors and narrow alleyways are still present from the OG Xbox and the quick-and-as-rabbit gameplay is very much intact.

As far as the gameplay footage goes... it's all standard fare. We don't get to see any weapons on display other than the standard issue Battle Rifle – the three-round burst fire capability is still very much intact and exercised with great diligence throughout the bout. If you were hoping to see how the Covenant weapons or the other human weapons worked in the game, you're sadly fresh out of luck.

We do get to see a few melee takedowns sprinkled throughout the bout. The tiny map and multiple players made it easy to see how close-quarter combat kills come frequently and sometimes unsuspectingly.

The battle itself was fairly mundane. There was nothing special about the match or the content contained therein. The real thrill, I imagine, comes from the fact that Halo as a first-person shooter is making a return to the PC platform after a long hiatus following the Windows Vista rendition of Halo 2.

However, don't get your hopes up too soon about the footage on display above. It's from a modded version of Halo Online that's being tested solely in Russia.

The modded version is running through a client called “Evolve”. It allows players to play-test some of the content available from the Russian build in other regions, including Europe and the Americas. Another version of the mod was recently shutdown by Microsoft.

Over on Reddit they explain the lengthy process they went through in order to install Halo Online, even though they're not in Russia. The tight-lipped region restrictions on the game call into question why Microsoft is going through such measures when I imagine many of the people who would want to play Halo Online as a free-to-play shooter would likely be from America.

Even still, they'll likely finish out closed beta testing in Russia; fix up the content and modes; add in something special to the cash shop when the time comes... and then they'll finally release the game in other regions.

For now, you'll just have to settle with seeing the modded gameplay from Halo Online. If you already own an Xbox One you can just pick up a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection or wait for Halo 5 to drop this fall.